Mile 10

Sticking with the marathon theme, if this were a marathon, I’d guess we were at mile 10. Things are looking good but as I always say, you never know whats going to happen until mile 18. Even if you look great, feel strong, the shit usually hits the fan when you hit mile 18.

And so far, we have had a pretty awesome run. My stimming in Denver continued to go very well. At my first appointment last Thursday, I had 12 follicles, all growing at the same rate which is what they like to see. My estrogen was also right on target so much that the doctors lowered my dosages of Menopur to 75 units from 150 and gonal from 225 to 75 for a day then to 150 ongoing.  By Monday, which was day 10 of stims, I had a 26 mm follicle and 10 others in close range so it was time to trigger. Unlike my last cycle, I did not have to do a gonal trigger as well as my follicles were right where they wanted them. Just one shot of 10,000 units of HCG in the butt given by DH at midnight and I was done with shots (total of 42 over 20 days but whose counting).

The retrieval was Wednesday morning at 11. And what a great experience compared to UCSF. I was immediately taken to my own room where I was covered in heated blankets. The nurse put a hot towel around my arm to prep it for the IV. Compared to UCSF where I sat next to three other women waiting for a retrieval, all of us in hospital gowns,  in the middle of the surgery center (to be fair, UCSF also offered hot blankets). Like UCSF, the IV did not go in easily. In fact, it took 4 tries until the anthesiologist made it work. Apparently, I have delicate veins. I finally saw Dr. Surrey for the first time when he dropped by to say hello and ask me to sign another round of consents about the myriad of risks from the retrieval. With that, the anethesiologist started the happy drugs and I was wheeled into the operating room (compared to UCSF where I walked in, put my own feet in the stirrups and then was drugged up). Next thing I remember is waking up happy 30 minutes later, starving and begging for a latte. The embryologist came by later to tell us they got 15 eggs, much better than I expected!

Dave’s job done, he left to pick up Miles, and head back to California. I was wheeled out where my dear friend drove me back to my brothers to convalesce. Thanks to my sister in law, I finally got my latte and I spent the afternoon watching Keeping up with the Kardashians. The CCRM lab called right before I was boarding my flight home with the fertilization report. Of the 15 retrieved, 11 were mature and ALL fertilized!!!

I want to be excited. I want to imagine those little embryos growing and multiplying, to one day be as cute and mischievous as their big brother. But I must remember we are far from the finish line. We must now wait 6 days to see how many of our adorable embryos make it to blast. Last cycle, I had 11 fertilize, we transferred 4 on day 3 and the rest arrested so I am realistic. CCRM does better than most clinics at getting embryos to blast which is why we are there. And from everything I have seen, they are much more on top of things than UCSF so I hope the same of the lab.

As I said, we are looking good at mile 10 which is a good thing. Five days and we will know just how much we have to work with for the CCS testing.